A BAREFOOTED and dishevelled young man thought to have been an Italian who went missing six years ago has turned out not to be the vanished youngster, police in Torrejón de Ardoz (Madrid) say.
Officers had searched missing persons records and contacted Europol and Interpol, as they were unable to identify the man they had found wandering the streets.
Photographs sent to the mother of Marcello Volpe, who would now be 26, in Palermo, Sicily led her to believe he was her missing son after she saw a scar on his right wrist matching that of the youth who disappeared.
She immediately booked a flight to Madrid, but upon arrival, did not recognise him.
The man found was apparently unable to speak, and communicated with police through gestures alone, which is partly why police suspected he was Marcello, since the missing Sicilian is autistic.
When Marcello's mother did not recognise him as her son, DNA tests were ordered.
These proved not to be a match.
Marcello's heartbroken mother has now returned to Italy, as police work hard to try to ascertain who the young man is.
